本篇文章是有关建筑的,属于科普知识。美式英语发音,慢速英语,与之前的听力素材相比,句子稍长一些。可以作为口译入门或基础英语听力口语听写的素材。毕竟咱们不能总是练习短句啊!
【先来看看句子分析】
In 1990, the Italian government enlisted top engineers to stabilize Pisa’s famous Leaning Tower.
1990年,意大利政府聘用了顶尖工程师来稳固著名的比萨斜塔。
There’d been many attempts to right the tower during its 800-year history.
800年的历史长河中,人们屡屡尝试去稳固它。
But this team’s computer models revealed the urgency of their situation.
但工程师团队的电脑模型揭露了斜塔修复工作的紧急性。
They projected the tower would topple if it reached an angle of 5.44 degrees
他们推测当这座塔的倾斜程度达到5.44°的时候,它就会倒塌。
And it was currently leaning at 5.5.
而现在已经倾斜了5.5°。
No one knew how the tower was still standing,
没人知道为什么比萨塔依然伫立。
but the crisis was clear: they had to solve a problem that stumped centuries of engineers.
但很显然,当务之急是:他们必须解决这个难题,这一难题困扰了几个世纪的工程师们。
And they needed to do it fast.
并且速度要快。
To understand their situation, it’s helpful to understand why the tower tilted in the first place.
要明白这到底是什么情况,我们可以先来了解一下这座塔当初为什么会倾斜。
【下面来看看词汇】
1.Pisa’s Leaning Tower/ the Leaning Tower of Pisa,专有名词,表示“比萨斜塔”。就是那个斜斜的塔哇。
常识:比萨斜塔建造于1173年8月,是意大利比萨城大教堂的独立式钟楼,位于意大利托斯卡纳省比萨城北面的奇迹广场上。
2.right,及物动词,表示“使恢复正常”,比如:right the imbalance(恢复平衡)。
3.project,及物动词,表示“预计、推断、预报”,比如:We need to project our employment needs better.(我们必须更准确地预测就业需要。)
4.topple,不及物动词,表示“倒塌、倒下”,比如:He just released his hold and toppled slowly backwards. (他就松手,慢慢地向后倒下了。)
5.tilt,不及物动词,表示“倾斜”,比如:The table is apt to tilt over.(这张桌子容易倾斜。)
今天要强调right和project这两个单词,大家在背诵单词的时候,不要只看常用词性的常见词义,还要背诵其余意思。